(This letter was written to Mayor Robert Lewis and the board of trustees in regard to the Garden City Fire Department's response to the couple's kitchen fire.)

We are new residents of Garden City. On Saturday, Jan. 5, we saw, firsthand, why the Garden City Fire Department has earned their terrific reputation.

We want you and every member of the department to know how grateful we are to the fire department for their immediate response to our call and their professional handling of the situation. They quickly extinguished a serious oven fire that could have destroyed our kitchen and damaged the rest of our home. They took time to speak with us after the fire was out.

As it happened, our invited guests arrived along with the Fire Department. After the heavy smoke had been cleared and our guests were permitted to enter our home, they couldn't believe how the firefighters had taken such care and left everything in perfect order.

The reputation of the Garden City Fire Department was one of many things that convinced us to buy our home in the village. The residents of Garden City should be proud of both our paid and volunteer firefighters.

Peter and Jennifer O'Hanlon